The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Engine oil is typically circulated in an engine to lubricate moving components in the engine. Typically, an oil pump pumps the engine oil from an oil sump to various other locations within the engine. Gravity causes engine oil to return to the oil sump. When the engine is switched off, the oil pump no longer pumps the engine oil, and therefore a substantial portion of the engine oil returns to and remains in the oil sump.
The engine oil must be maintained above a certain level to prevent damage to the engine components while the engine is running. Methods have been developed in which an operator manually checks an engine oil level when the engine switched is off by withdrawing a dipstick from the oil sump and observing the amount of oil deposited on the dipstick. However, these methods rely on the operator to check the engine oil level, and therefore may result in infrequent oil level checks, low or high engine oil levels, and ultimately, damage to the engine and/or to an emission control system.